Egypt government holds vote on new constitution amid deadly violence

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/14/egypt-vote-constitution-deadly-violence

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Pro-government Egyptians defied a series of fatal clashes on Tuesday to vote for the first time in the post-Morsi era, on the first day of a polarising referendum boycotted by both the Muslim Brotherhood and leftist groups but portrayed by the government and most media as a make or break moment in Egyptian history.

Most polling stations were calm, with up to 160,000 soldiers policing voting queues across the country. But at least 11 people died in three provinces as security forces clashed with supporters of the ousted president Mohamed Morsi.

Shortly before polls opened, a bomb also exploded outside a courthouse in north-west Cairo in what one police official claimed was an attempt by extremists to discourage participation in the referendum. There were no injuries.

The referendum, which continues on Wednesday, ostensibly seeks national consent for a series of amendments to Egypt's constitution. But the state and its supporters have also positioned it as not just a poll on the text's contents, but as a ratification of Morsi's overthrow, and as the only means of re-establishing order in a country ravaged by three years of post-revolutionary chaos.

"Voting is a national duty that should be exercised," said interim president Adly Mansour, who was installed by the army following Morsi's removal, as he voted in Cairo. "Your votes are not only on the constitution, but on the entire roadmap for Egypt's future as well."

Many yes voters agreed that the importance of the constitution's passage, which will set in motion the process for presidential and parliamentary elections, outweighed any problems within the text itself. "I can't read," admitted Romani Kamel, a carpenter voting near the Cairo bomb blast. "But I voted yes because [the constitution] is a symbol of stability and progress. The country stopped under the Brotherhood. Now everything will get better, and tourism will come back."

As a soldier, General Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, the army chief who ousted Morsi in July, is not allowed to vote – but he was cheered by crowds as he inspected a polling station in north-east Cairo. The vote has particular significance for Sisi, who hinted on Saturday that he would regard a strong turnout and a high yes vote as a mandate to run for office.

An army spokesman applauded what he called the referendum's "historic turnout", and regime supporters circulated photographs of long voting queues. But no corroborating polling figures were released, and the reality was impossible to judge. Some anecdotal reports even suggested that voter apathy had rendered turnout – albeit with one day of voting left – no higher than in a previous poll in December 2012. "I'm tired of politics," sighed Ahmed, a kiosk owner in central Cairo, when asked if he would vote.

But in Kerdasa – a town just west of Cairo where pro-Morsi extremists allegedly killed around a dozen policemen in August, and where fatal clashes broke out at lunchtime – some voters were eager to show their support for both Sisi and the constitution.

"Yes to Sisi," said 50-year-old housewife Khadr Abdel Salem, when asked how she voted. "But this is for the constitution," Salem's friend reminded her. "Yes," Salem replied, "but it's the same thing."

A nearby news stand highlighted the prism through which many Egyptians have been encouraged to view the referendum. "Today is judgment day," said the front page of Dostour, a pro-government broadsheet. "Today is the difference between freedom and slavery," said another paper, al-Shaab. Amid such fervour, few have been either willing or given the space to express an alternative view – and most journalists could not find a single person planning to vote no. The main party driving the no campaign, Strong Egypt, claimed 35 of its activists had been arrested while on the campaign trail, and opted to boycott the referendum on Monday. Human Rights Watch said that seven had been charged.

"It's a fake process," said Mohamed el-Baqr, an official with Strong Egypt, a moderate Islamist party that called for Morsi's early departure but opposed his usurpers' subsequent crackdown on dissent. "The choice on the ballot paper is effectively between a box for yes, and a box for handcuffs."

Here and there, people gave hints of dissent. Morsi supporters flashed four-fingered pro-Morsi salutes outside polling stations, before hurrying away. A newspaper vendor in Kerdasa made sure the Guardian saw the one pro-Morsi newspaper among a raft of pro-constitution front-pages. "Just in case you thought everyone felt like that," he said with a wink, before admitting he was boycotting the poll.

On many walls in Kerdasa, someone had stamped sectarian graffiti against the referendum. "Boycott the Pope's constitution," read one slogan, which appeared to incite hatred of Christians by claiming that the Coptic pope was behind the referendum.

Amid the focus on its symbolism, the contents of the constitution have been largely ignored. Supporters praise it for having largely removed pro-Islamist sections from Morsi's version and for potentially paving the way to better education, healthcare and women's rights.

Secular opponents say it is not the revolutionary document they expected after the removal of two presidents. In particular, they are concerned about clauses that variously allow for civilians to be tried in certain contexts in army courts, curb workers' rights and limit religious freedoms to members of the three Abrahamic religions.

The text is opposed by most Islamist groups, with one notable exception: the ultraconservative Salafi Nour party, the second-largest group in Egypt's last parliament. One-time Morsi allies, the Nour party claimed in 2012 that even Morsi's 2012 constitution was not conservative enough. But 13 months on, Nour said it will support the new secular-slanted text on pragmatic grounds: to allow it to continue to play a role in the political scene.

"If we said no the constitution would pass by smaller percentage, but it would still pass, and the Nour party would have sacrificed their role in the roadmap," said Nader Bakkar, the party spokesman.

The referendum is monitored by hundreds of local observers and 83 overseas delegates from Democracy International, paid for by the US government. "But just by being here, we're not making a statement that the process is legitimate or illegitimate," DI's head of mission, Dan Murphy, told the Guardian. Another US-based group, the Carter Centre, only sent a small delegation after being deeply concerned by the "narrowed political space surrounding the upcoming referendum".

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